A Walk in the Sun

source: A Walk in the Sun

This is a WWII film, made during the war, and therefore should be closer to the truth than later films. We get attempts at character, and some of the banter is well done. We get some situations that are well done, such as the confusion, of not knowing what is going on somewhere else, which two characters experience early in a trench, and which brings too much curiosity out in one of the characters. We have a realistic depiction of a breakdown. There, the assets of the film stop. Unfortunately, we get the heavy handed cigarette commercial, and we know tobacco companies sponsor this film since any character who doesn't light up a cigarette is destined to become a casualty. The predictability doesn't end there. The film goes beyond being a bit contrived into the "here we go again" clichés. The clichés ruin this film. For a film that tries to pride itself on realism, there is an incredible lack of screaming after being shot, and of the cleanest wounds ever in film. That would be passable, except that immediately after a man is shot, the camera follows him for many seconds of "taking the pain" quietly, and we never even see any pain on these men. Now, some directors go overboard on the "pain" deal, and they are just as stereotypical, but this film is ridiculous in the other direction. We know from the contrived writing which characters bullets will find, and which they won't. And the stupid song that went with it brings the rating down considerably. Most war films from this era were very good in one way or another. This one falls well short of them.

This is not the worse war movie I have ever seen, but it ranks right down there at the bottom. I am totally and utterly dumbfounded by the comments that say that this is a "realistic" war movie. I agree that it is very "different" (not much combat action, lots of small talk, off screen combat, on screen tension), but to say that the move is realistic is ridiculous. I could write forever about the unrealism, but here are just a few items. 1. The lieutenant gets killed at the outset, so command passes down to three battle-hardened combat sergeants,. . . who then spend the rest of the movie crying, confused, unable to lead, unable to read maps, uncertain what to do, uncertain how to command, and having existential anxiety. Indeed, this appears to be the fundamental theme of the entire movie! (They should rename it "The Crying Sergeants"). I've got big news for you. Combat platoons are run and commanded by the sergeants. They are the most competent men and leaders in combat. Young officers, on the other hand, such as lieutenants, are typically hapless and routinely get men killed by not knowing how to command. The mission in this movie (march 6 miles inland down a farm road and destroy a farm house marked on a map) would be business as usual for any combat sergeant. These guys acted like it was the Manhattan Project!!! 2. In the middle of the movie, in a combat situation, a sergeant issues a direct order to a private to deliver a message to another soldier. The private replies, "Go tell him yourself!" Realism??? You've got to be kidding me!! Do you have any idea what would have happened both then (and now) if a soldier said this to a sergeant in combat?? It would start off with a really good beating, and end in the soldier having to walk point (suicide) for the rest of the mission. 3. Each and every soldier has the exact battle dress on, including carry bags and ammo belts, regardless of rank or weapons. Guys carrying little M-1 carbines are wearing ammo belts designed for the large Garand rifle ammo. Guys carrying Thompson submachine guns are wearing the same. Realism??? Only in Hollywood. 4. At the climax, 50 troops with rifles charge across an open field at a stone farmhouse containing three German machine guns. The machine guns blaze away, and only a few troops fall! Realism?? This charge would have been suicide, with all killed! The lone American machine gun (blazing away from a stone wall 200 yard away to "support" the charge) would have killed more Americans than Germans. What would they have really done in this scenario? They would have surrounded the farmhouse, pinned down the occupants, and then called for support. (Either air or armor.) 5. Fifty men are sent inland on a mission, and nobody has a radio? Since their landing was uncontested, they clearly didn't leave it with the dead in the surf. Geez, . . . I guess they just plain forgot to bring one!!! When I see a movie like this, I just don't know what to think. The only people who would categorize this movie as realistic would be "Artsie" folks, who seem to know nothing about combat, firearms, or the military, and who seem to totally confuse the concept of "small-talk dialogue among privates" with realism. I am sorry, but they are not the same thing.

There were a lot of excellent WWII films made both during the war and after, though I certainly would not consider A WALK IN THE SUN among them. In fact, I had a hard time keeping interested in this film--mostly because the characters talked and talked and talked--practically non-stop! Rarely did they allow scenes to take place without long and distracting conversations between the G.I.s. Starting on the landing craft until they took the farmhouse, it was talk, talk, talk! Sadly, nothing they really said was that profound or even interesting. This made me look forward to the action scenes. By contrast, there have been some amazing films that DID show the servicemen as real human beings and did show their interactions yet still were amazing films. Just off the top of my head, THEY WERE EXPENDABLE and BATTLEGROUND were similar in structure to A WALK IN THE SUN but they managed to be entertaining and inspiring. In other words, ordinary men behaving extraordinarily under the circumstances. Whereas in A WALK IN THE SUN, they just seemed like irritating people whose characters and dialog were poorly written. It sure is hard to see that this film was directed by the same man who directed ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT--one of the finest war films ever made. A few interesting (but mostly uninspired) battle scenes weren't enough to make this anything other than a time-passer.

When "A Walk in the Sun" came out in 1945 it made a strong impression on the home front. It showed more of the reality of war than the string of patriotic we-can-do-it slap-the-Jap stun-the-Hun movies, mostly nonsensical tripe made during the war years. There are no John Wayne heroics here, no superhuman commandos, just the "poor bloody infantry". They are just a platoon of fairly ordinary men on a mission to march to a farmhouse and occupy it. It is not that Hollywood staple of "the mission that could change the course of the war". They lose their lieutenant. They take casualties from planes, maybe even their own planes. The sergeant who takes over the lead breaks down. They keep going. They talk - a lot. But what talk it is! It is the talk of soldiers. Commonplace stuff, where do you come from, what are you going to do after the war, do the brass know what they're doing, gimme a cigarette. The song that opens and closes the movie makes a point that is perhaps the point of the movie when it links them to soldiers of other places and times. Incidentally, it is fun to look at the cast. Most of the major players in this movie were at the beginning of long and successful careers, notably Dana Andrews, Lloyd Bridges and Norman Lloyd. (Just another thought - after seeing "Saving Private Ryan", I realized that Steven Spielberg has seen "A Walk in the Sun" at least as many times as I have.) My uncle, a veteran of Tunisia who went into Salerno as a Ranger, hated most war films, but not this one. He also told me that his company had a fight with a German armored car very similar to the one with the halftrack in this film.

Outrageously disappointing film dealing with American soldiers attempting to liberate a barn in World War 11 war-torn Italy. The film is simply miserable as there is entirely too much talking and very little action. The first half-hour or so is unbelievably boring. Even the great acting cast can't pull this one out. Sterling Hayden in a dramatic role is just ridiculous here. He insists upon wanting to see where the action is at. When he is shot dead by German air-craft, Dana Andrews remarks: " I am scared." What else is new? 1945-46 was a remarkable time in Andrews' career. He was horribly miscast in 1945's "State Fair" and the following year, he gave a superb performance in the Oscar-winning "The Best Years of Our Lives." Richard Conte lacks his usual devilish behavior. As a guy from Brooklyn, he aspires to join the mob after the war ends. The great director Lewis Milestone created a first class stinker in "A Walk in the Sun." Milestone's head must have been in the clouds when he made this poor imitation of a motion film.

This movie is beyond criticism. Within its celluloid record there clambers cold history. The tanks are real. The planes are real. The people are real. This was a contemporary war movie to the actual war, without the layers of myth laquered by years of failing memory. Unlike recent high budget over-the-top productions and the copious blood spattering within, this little epic tends to mute the violence into the pathos of the moment of death. That being the death of heroes. And the emphasis appears to hinge on the suddenness, the randomness, and the tragedy of men dying hard. It is a stark memorial to the courage and sacrifice of the World War II soldier. Amazingly, and very much in contrast to most other war films of the period which demonized the enemy, this film provides a neutral texture to the foe. Here the German soldiers are but shadows on the cave wall. The stray Italian soldiers appear as comic sidekicks in the maelstrom of a nation at peril from two sides. The enemy appears to escape the moral condemnation that other films embraced. This is war and this is what it is by those who fought it. The film describes the landings of an infantry platoon on the Salerno beaches in Italy. All of a sudden they are left leaderless as two of the senior officers meets a soldier's fate. The beach scene remains a descriptive detail of what a soldiers paradox in modern warfare was. They bring the war but they do not know where it is, where they are, whether the war will visit them, or what lies in front of them. Without the need for special effects the director garnishes the film with the fog of war skillfully. A startling moment is when the third ranking leader, a noncom sargeant succumbs to panic and shell shock. It is perhaps the kindest treatment of the condition ever presented cinematically during that period. The rest of the platoon appears to be supportive to the fallen insane sargeant. But the war goes on. They move on. Rallied by a solid sargeant the platoon moves onto its objectives, a bridge and a farmhouse at a cost. The objectives are difficult and the angst of leadership and follower play the scene well. And unlike most war movies where heroism goes beyond definition, these heroes are all very much afraid. The film has a solid core of young actors of the period. Dana Andrews, a very young Lloyd Bridges appear to anchor the cast. The black and white format suits this tiny epic. The cinematography, stunts are solid and consistently well done. It is a darkish film very much worth seeing.

This is a different war movie, it has very few action sequences. But the director created a compelling movie none the less. Most action in this movie takes place off camera, this creates a feeling of 'being there.' One character mentions that all the action he has seen he had to listen to it. The pace of the movie tends to get slow then speed up quickly. It was quite different but for a war movie fan like myself, very entertaining.

A Walk in the Sun -despite some please the folks at home inaccuracies that has been spoken of earlier: pulling grenade pins with teeth(irks me every time)and the grenades destroying a bridge (well it could've of been just planks across a stream not the Golden Gate) the theme song,the movie tells of fear,monotony,cynicism(Norman Lloyds'point man feels this thing is gonna last forever with or without him) and the terror-heroics of combat very well. Far superior to Guadacanal Diary and the war as cartoon films of that period and after, ,and like the similar The Story of GI Joe set in Italy the forgotten front a story of a job to be done. The platoon takes losses in the final assault on the farmhouse how many fatal or seriously wounded is unknown and neither is the fate of the platoon answered no relieving task force comes up at the climax. There will be other farmhouses,other streams to cross, another hill to take and hold for the poor slob infantry. No remake is needed, no Spielbergian string section pulling at the heart, no CGI effects needed to convey the havoc, A Walk In the Sun says with dignity and respect that a job had to be done and this is a story of some of the workers in the mill.

I just like the movie. The first time I saw it was in 1948 and I did not see it again until a few years ago when AMC and the History channel started to show it again. I watch it every chance I get. The cast is excellent with many of the actors becoming more popular in later years. This movie offers excellent insight into what makes people tick. The platoon making its way inland during the invasion of Italy offers insight into what a farmer, school teacher, etc. considers important in life. One scene which I believe describes the futility of war is where the farmer determines that the soil is worthless. The cerebral fellow (John Ireland) states simply that it is because too many soilders have walked over it for too many years (centuries). I especially like how John Ireland "writes letters" in his head and hopes to write them on paper later. I also like the part where Lloyd Bridges starts laughing because he suddenly feels like a little kid when planting explosives on a bridge. The confident Sergeant ( Dana Andrews) shows fear when about to give the command to launch the attack on the farmhouse. The fast talking dialogue between Richard Conte and his buddy remind me of people we have met. This is an excellent movie. I believe that most people would appreciate this movie, whether or not they watch war movies. This movie offers a lot of insight into human nature. The movie is practically void of blood and gore and leaves it to the imagination of the viewer, such as when the Lieutenant is seriously wounded while on board the landing craft, with half of his face missing. You can imagine it and don't have to see it.